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GEOWORKS.TXT
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1993-05-30
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GEOWORKS PRO
An Alternative To Windows
by Vito Michelozzi
PC Computing magazine in their July 1992 issue, page 154, stated:
"If you were challenged to prove before a judge that Microsoft is
fallible, and that MicroSoft products aren't always the best in
their class, what programs would you choose as Exhibit A? Desqview
is tempting, so are Norton Desktop for Windows and DRDOS 6.0. But
there's one even one more remarkable piece of evidence; GeoWorks
Pro."
After more that two years of hands-on experience with GeoWorks Pro
and its predecessor, I can't agree more with PC Computing. Although
I also use Windows 3.1, my GUI program of first choice is GeoWorks
Pro. I began using Geoworks Pro, a graphical user interface, in
1989 on a Commodore 64. I then successively advanced to a 80286,
80386, and now a 80486SX 25 MHZ with 4 MB of RAM and a 169MB hard
disk. I have nothing but praise for its many easy-to-use features.
While GeoWorks Pro may lack some sophistication of Windows, it
nevertheless makes up for these shortcomings with some real
strengths. Such as: high quality laser-like printing with a 9-dot
matrix printer. The ability to pin complete menus on the screen for
quick access. Overall ease of use.
GeoWorks Pro's major drawback now is the almost total lack of
third-party applications although it does come bundled with
Borland's Quatro Pro SE (an excellent entry level spreadsheet
program) and America Online (a communication program). If you're
looking for an efficient and easy to use program for home or office,
GeoWorks Pro is a satisfactory choice. Over the years I have
created numerous newsletters, pamphlets, booklets, signs, banners,
flyers, and advertising circulars. I don't claim to be a
consummate expert on GeoWorks Pro because it seems to me that no one
can fully master a computer program. Otherwise there wouldn't be a
need for such books as "DOS for Dummies" (over 1,000,000 copies sold).
Most programs contain some little feature that always elude us.
Even so, I have found Geoworks with its built-in applications and
accessories is more efficient and easier to learn. It's less
intimidating than other similar programs I've used including Windows,
Dosshell, and Nortons Desktop.
Choose Your Level
There are three levels of use in GeoWorks Pro: Beginner,
Intermediate and Advanced. Geoworks builds from the beginner level
of simple concepts, to the most advanced operations. When you first
boot the program the first thing that appears is an attractive
Welcome screen. It displays three large illustrated buttons,
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced plus a smaller button for access to
the DOS screen. The DOS screen creates attractive buttons for each
DOS application and can launch DOS programs. Buttons are included
for many popular programs or you can design one to suit your taste.
GeoWorks Pro uses the same type of menu bar, window movement, sizing
and scrolling controls as Windows. Only it's organized differently.
The File Cabinet
The file cabinet is the centerpiece of GeoWorks Pro. From the File
Cabinet you can open documents as well as manage files, directories,
and disks. This is all done with a point and click actions of the
mouse. Files and directories may be created, copied, moved and
renamed without using a single cryptic DOS command. A directory icon
can be selected with the mouse and dragged to a wastebasket icon to
quickly delete the directory and all its contents in one simple easy
swoop. You can't do this from Windows. Files and directories can be
moved to a new location or copied by dragging it with the mouse or
by using Copy and Move buttons.
GEOWRITE
GEOWRITE is a full featured word processor. It includes nine fonts
from 4 points to 792 (at any angle). It features a wide selection of
sizes and fonts for bold, italic, underline, strike-thru,
superscript, subscript.. You can create multi-column documents with
graphics. Importing and exporting text files is easy. Color can be
added to text as well as to graphics. You can type letters, sales
reports, memos, job resumes, and many other documents using built-in
templates. GeoWrite uses outline fonts that result is smooth crisp
printed text and graphics, on the screen and on paper. You can use
it to create a multi-column newsletter, with pictures and clipart
copied from GeoDraw. There's a built-in spell checker with a 100,000
word American English dictionary. There are three printer options:
High - Laser-like or jet ink quality.
Medium - Near letter quality.
Low - Fast draft mode.
In addition it offers margin settings, spell checker, header, footer,
alignment, and tab settings. You can work with multiple documents
and switch between the open document through the Window menu.
Multiple documents can be overlapped so the title bars for each is
visible. Or you can go to a full-size window mode with the main
document on the top and the rest underneath it.
GeoWorks Pro provides a wide selection of templates:
* Cards -Birthday, Anniversary, Card Borders, Invitations, Thank You.
* Business Forms - Purchase Order, Memos, Invoice, Bulletin,
Credit Memo, Expense report, Fax
* Templates - Letterheads, Newsletters, term papers, posters
* Signs and Award Certificates.
Templates are preformatted. All you have to do to create a
professional looking document is to open a template and add your
text and even graphics.
GEODRAW
GEODRAW is a powerful and easy-to-use drawing application for
producing full-color graphics with integrated text. You draw
full-color charts, graphs and any other picture you want, using an
array of eight drawing tools. The addition of an erase tool would be
a big help in editing graphics. The program can rotate, fuse, scale,
expand, shrink and color any element of your design. It can import
clipart and pictures from other directories. Images and graphics can
be instantly sized, rotated, copied, color-filled, pasted and flipped
horizontally or vertically.
Quattro Pro Viewer
The Quattro Pro Viewer can either launch Quattro Pro SE or it can
open an existing spreadsheet to look at it. With a double-click of
the mouse a spreadsheet file can be merged into a report or
presentation prepared in GeoWrite. The Viewer is used only for
viewing spreadsheets. To work on an existing spreadsheet or create
a new one you must launch Quattro Pro SE. GEOCOMM is used with a
modem to communicate with other computers over the telephone lines.
It can send and receive files, access information services, and log
into bulletin board systems. You Also can download files, programs
and information.
GEODEX
GEODEX keeps an address and phone record of friends, relatives,
businesses and can print lists of names and phone numbers, or
mailing labels. With a modem, GeoDex dials the phone for you.
Searching for a name and making changes in the directory is easy to
accomplish.
NOTEPAD
The NOTEPAD is a simple text editor for working with DOS text files
SCRAPBOOK
The SCRAPBOOK stores images and blocks of text. It will import
graphics from other DOS programs as well.
For the game-minded, Geoworks has added the solitaire card game,
Klondike and the fascinating Tetris game.
A big plus for GeoWorks Pro is its ability to pin down menus and sub
menus to the workspace while making changes to text and images. You
can make a series of selections from a menu without having to pull
it down each time. Once a menu is pinned on the workspace, it can be
moved around and placed wherever it is needed the most. This feature
is lacking in Windows. Another plus for GeoWorks Pro is its ability
to save files using 32 characters in the file name, rather than the
limitation of 8 characters allowed by DOS and Windows.
GEOPLANNER
GEOPLANNER contains a yearly calendar and an appointment book. You
can schedule appointments and meetings and have GeoPlanner
automatically remind you. Recurring events like birthdays,
anniversary, and weekly meeting also can be scheduled. I have found
DOS applications that I use frequently, Quattro Pro and Quicken for
example, run significantly faster under GeoWorks Pro than do their
Windows' counterparts. All-in-all GeoWorks Pro is a well designed
and worthwhile program to have. It compares quite favorably with any
of its competitors. I highly recommend QuatroPro especially to new
users where they have a choice.
GeoWorks Pro runs on a 512K XT, 286, or 386SX and it's as fast as
Windows on a 486DX. A hard disk is needed with at least 6MB of
memory, significantly less than required for Windows.
GeoWorks Pro is produced by:
GeoWorks 2150 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94704
Phone: (510)644-0883
Suggested List Price: $199.99
Street Price: $139.99